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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
This might actually be the worst book I've ever read. SPOILERS AHEAD
Pro tip for writing a story about an evil man seeking redemption: Don't make him a pedophilic mass rapist. Don't have him fight villains who are presented as utterly irredeemably evil despite having only done a fraction of the terrible things Daylen has.
Daylen Namaren is one of the worst protagonists ever put to paper. He claims to feel such immense guilt for his terrible crimes, but he's totally unwilling to face justice for them. He starts off the story by wanting to commit suicide after twenty years of living in hiding(despite being awful at faking his identity, he never even thinks to adopt an alias, and can hardly restrain himself from boasting about his many deeds to anyone who will listen), he claims it's because the guilt is too much to bear, but in reality it's because he's old and feeble and is going to die soon anyway. And when instead of dying he is somehow restored to his teenage body and granted incredible powers, oh, suddenly he decides that the real punishment is getting to live and do whatever he wants while still avoiding justice for all the rape and killing he's responsible for. This is a man who can rationalize any action he does while insisting that no one else can render judgement on him because the Light has already given him his punishment, his punishment being that he's young and fit and the most powerful person in the world, real convenient for him. Oh, but he gets to render his judgement on anyone he wants, and he revels in brutally killing people.
Despite Shad Brooks being such a critic of so called "Mary Sues" in fiction, a term I can't stand, Daylen is one of the most overpowered wish fulfilment Mary Sue characters I have ever witnessed. There is nothing in this this story that Daylen is not the absolute best at, whether that be sword fighting, tactical acumen, using magical powers, piloting airships, forging magic weapons, inventing, anything you can think of, he's not merely skilled at it, he's the highest level master at it. He has more magic power than anyone else, while other Lightbinders have to pick one skill they can specialize in, Daylen can be just as powerful at any skill he chooses at any time, he instantly masters every secret technique simply by observing it and trying it out. He constantly is able to perform feats that are supposed to be impossible.
But what really makes this book uncomfortable to read is the sheer amount of gratuitous sexual violence in it. It truly is incredible how everything in this book circles back around to rape. Rape isn't just a thing that happens in this book, it is the sun at the center of Shadow of the Conqueror's solar system, everything orbits around it. Every character is either a rapist, a rape victim, or is only one association away from one of the two. Daylen, a rapist, boards a ship that he finds out is trafficking rape victims, gets raided by rapist pirates, kills the captains of both ships in a sexually violating manner, spares a member of the crew who we learn the pirate captain liked to rape his mother, they go the pirate hideout where the captain has turned two of his rape victims into Shades(people who are exposed to darkness for long periods of time turn into monsters in this world), and we learn that the most dangerous shades are Lusts, women who have been raped over and over again before they turn into Shades.
One of the major characters, Lyrah, was one of the many teenage girls Daylen raped. Daylen has no intention of ever revealing to her that he's the one who raped her, he's perfectly happy to gaslight her and the story even seems to be moving in a direction where the two of them might become love interests, which is disgusting in a away I don't need to articulate. And at the end of the story when Daylen's true identity has been found out and he's been tried for all his crimes, what is his punishment? Death, you would think, but no, instead he's made into one of the Archknights, you know, just like how in real life we punish criminals by giving them a badge and gun and making them lawful officers of the law. And who is his partner? Why it's Lyrah of course, the woman who now has to spend every day of her life working with the man who raped her as a child!
And it almost seems unnecessary to mention considering how terrible the subject matter alone is, but this book is awful from a purely technical writing standpoint. An editor is listed in the copyright page, but I can't imagine they did much more than fix spelling and grammar mistakes. This is not a professional grade novel, it's a vanity project pure and simple and it reads like one. The prose is dull and uninspired, the formatting is baffling at times. There are parts where you read a series of one sentence paragraphs all in a row when they could have just been made into one long paragraph. The dialogue is stilted, there are chapter breaks that split scenes in half for no reason at all, it's just a mess. And it' boring, it's so boring. The hardest part of reading this book was forcing myself to stay focused on the page while my eyes tried to slide off to look at something, anything else.
Awful awful bok, don't read it unless you can't resist the morbid curiosity.
Pro tip for writing a story about an evil man seeking redemption: Don't make him a pedophilic mass rapist. Don't have him fight villains who are presented as utterly irredeemably evil despite having only done a fraction of the terrible things Daylen has.
Daylen Namaren is one of the worst protagonists ever put to paper. He claims to feel such immense guilt for his terrible crimes, but he's totally unwilling to face justice for them. He starts off the story by wanting to commit suicide after twenty years of living in hiding(despite being awful at faking his identity, he never even thinks to adopt an alias, and can hardly restrain himself from boasting about his many deeds to anyone who will listen), he claims it's because the guilt is too much to bear, but in reality it's because he's old and feeble and is going to die soon anyway. And when instead of dying he is somehow restored to his teenage body and granted incredible powers, oh, suddenly he decides that the real punishment is getting to live and do whatever he wants while still avoiding justice for all the rape and killing he's responsible for. This is a man who can rationalize any action he does while insisting that no one else can render judgement on him because the Light has already given him his punishment, his punishment being that he's young and fit and the most powerful person in the world, real convenient for him. Oh, but he gets to render his judgement on anyone he wants, and he revels in brutally killing people.
Despite Shad Brooks being such a critic of so called "Mary Sues" in fiction, a term I can't stand, Daylen is one of the most overpowered wish fulfilment Mary Sue characters I have ever witnessed. There is nothing in this this story that Daylen is not the absolute best at, whether that be sword fighting, tactical acumen, using magical powers, piloting airships, forging magic weapons, inventing, anything you can think of, he's not merely skilled at it, he's the highest level master at it. He has more magic power than anyone else, while other Lightbinders have to pick one skill they can specialize in, Daylen can be just as powerful at any skill he chooses at any time, he instantly masters every secret technique simply by observing it and trying it out. He constantly is able to perform feats that are supposed to be impossible.
But what really makes this book uncomfortable to read is the sheer amount of gratuitous sexual violence in it. It truly is incredible how everything in this book circles back around to rape. Rape isn't just a thing that happens in this book, it is the sun at the center of Shadow of the Conqueror's solar system, everything orbits around it. Every character is either a rapist, a rape victim, or is only one association away from one of the two. Daylen, a rapist, boards a ship that he finds out is trafficking rape victims, gets raided by rapist pirates, kills the captains of both ships in a sexually violating manner, spares a member of the crew who we learn the pirate captain liked to rape his mother, they go the pirate hideout where the captain has turned two of his rape victims into Shades(people who are exposed to darkness for long periods of time turn into monsters in this world), and we learn that the most dangerous shades are Lusts, women who have been raped over and over again before they turn into Shades.
One of the major characters, Lyrah, was one of the many teenage girls Daylen raped. Daylen has no intention of ever revealing to her that he's the one who raped her, he's perfectly happy to gaslight her and the story even seems to be moving in a direction where the two of them might become love interests, which is disgusting in a away I don't need to articulate. And at the end of the story when Daylen's true identity has been found out and he's been tried for all his crimes, what is his punishment? Death, you would think, but no, instead he's made into one of the Archknights, you know, just like how in real life we punish criminals by giving them a badge and gun and making them lawful officers of the law. And who is his partner? Why it's Lyrah of course, the woman who now has to spend every day of her life working with the man who raped her as a child!
And it almost seems unnecessary to mention considering how terrible the subject matter alone is, but this book is awful from a purely technical writing standpoint. An editor is listed in the copyright page, but I can't imagine they did much more than fix spelling and grammar mistakes. This is not a professional grade novel, it's a vanity project pure and simple and it reads like one. The prose is dull and uninspired, the formatting is baffling at times. There are parts where you read a series of one sentence paragraphs all in a row when they could have just been made into one long paragraph. The dialogue is stilted, there are chapter breaks that split scenes in half for no reason at all, it's just a mess. And it' boring, it's so boring. The hardest part of reading this book was forcing myself to stay focused on the page while my eyes tried to slide off to look at something, anything else.
Awful awful bok, don't read it unless you can't resist the morbid curiosity.
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence
DNF 30%
This book, I can’t. The protagonist is insufferable, the magic system is over explained.
This book, I can’t. The protagonist is insufferable, the magic system is over explained.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not for everyone, but it's great for those who truly believe in second chances.
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unfortunately, this book has lots of structural problems in the writing. While Shad did take the time to build out the technical aspects of the world, that positive is in spite of the writing not in addition to. I’m not going to give a point by point deconstruction as I don’t think I could effectively do that without spoiling the whole book.
Suffice to say that while the book has an interesting opening the setting plateaus quickly with development largely stagnant after the first few chapters. The characters also lack meaningful depth. They display multiple emotions, but they feel hollow. I’d compare them to standard D&D characters. They may be multifaceted, but these facets dominate too much of their personality and interactions. They don’t quite sink to the level of melodrama characters, but they were close. Similarly, I don’t find there to be many stakes after the opening sequence. Like a comic book or superhero movie it’s quickly apparent that the heroes will overcome all obstacles. That would be fine if there was sufficient spectacle, but the prose isn’t up to snuff in that respect. Which is really the heart of the problem. Many of the elements of a good story make their way into the book, but the medium itself (writing) has been neglected. If the prose itself was better I might be more forgiving and bump it up to three stars. As it stands it’s a below average book, there’s nothing in it that I would really care to reread or was otherwise impressed by.
Merged review:
Unfortunately, this book has lots of structural problems in the writing. While Shad did take the time to build out the technical aspects of the world, that positive is in spite of the writing not in addition to. I’m not going to give a point by point deconstruction as I don’t think I could effectively do that without spoiling the whole book.
Suffice to say that while the book has an interesting opening the setting plateaus quickly with development largely stagnant after the first few chapters. The characters also lack meaningful depth. They display multiple emotions, but they feel hollow. I’d compare them to standard D&D characters. They may be multifaceted, but these facets dominate too much of their personality and interactions. They don’t quite sink to the level of melodrama characters, but they were close. Similarly, I don’t find there to be many stakes after the opening sequence. Like a comic book or superhero movie it’s quickly apparent that the heroes will overcome all obstacles. That would be fine if there was sufficient spectacle, but the prose isn’t up to snuff in that respect. Which is really the heart of the problem. Many of the elements of a good story make their way into the book, but the medium itself (writing) has been neglected. If the prose itself was better I might be more forgiving and bump it up to three stars. As it stands it’s a below average book, there’s nothing in it that I would really care to reread or was otherwise impressed by.
Suffice to say that while the book has an interesting opening the setting plateaus quickly with development largely stagnant after the first few chapters. The characters also lack meaningful depth. They display multiple emotions, but they feel hollow. I’d compare them to standard D&D characters. They may be multifaceted, but these facets dominate too much of their personality and interactions. They don’t quite sink to the level of melodrama characters, but they were close. Similarly, I don’t find there to be many stakes after the opening sequence. Like a comic book or superhero movie it’s quickly apparent that the heroes will overcome all obstacles. That would be fine if there was sufficient spectacle, but the prose isn’t up to snuff in that respect. Which is really the heart of the problem. Many of the elements of a good story make their way into the book, but the medium itself (writing) has been neglected. If the prose itself was better I might be more forgiving and bump it up to three stars. As it stands it’s a below average book, there’s nothing in it that I would really care to reread or was otherwise impressed by.
Merged review:
Unfortunately, this book has lots of structural problems in the writing. While Shad did take the time to build out the technical aspects of the world, that positive is in spite of the writing not in addition to. I’m not going to give a point by point deconstruction as I don’t think I could effectively do that without spoiling the whole book.
Suffice to say that while the book has an interesting opening the setting plateaus quickly with development largely stagnant after the first few chapters. The characters also lack meaningful depth. They display multiple emotions, but they feel hollow. I’d compare them to standard D&D characters. They may be multifaceted, but these facets dominate too much of their personality and interactions. They don’t quite sink to the level of melodrama characters, but they were close. Similarly, I don’t find there to be many stakes after the opening sequence. Like a comic book or superhero movie it’s quickly apparent that the heroes will overcome all obstacles. That would be fine if there was sufficient spectacle, but the prose isn’t up to snuff in that respect. Which is really the heart of the problem. Many of the elements of a good story make their way into the book, but the medium itself (writing) has been neglected. If the prose itself was better I might be more forgiving and bump it up to three stars. As it stands it’s a below average book, there’s nothing in it that I would really care to reread or was otherwise impressed by.